10 New Albums to Stream Today

Music Lists New Albums
10 New Albums to Stream Today

February is supposed to be a short month, so why does it feel like it’s been going on for approximately eight weeks? Maybe it’s the monotony of February’s dreariness: endless sludgy snow (or rain, depending on where you live), clouds and circulating colds. In a word, it’s gray. But, by this time next week, we’ll be staring down March, the hope of sunnier days and spring breaks in our minds. In the meantime, there’s music and Mardi Gras, if you’re so inclined to celebrate, to keep us occupied. Today brings a parade of new albums worth listening to this weekend, including those by King Krule, Moses Sumney and Best Coast. So throw on some beads and order the king cake: This weekend’s all about making the best of another February. Here’s our list of 10 new albums out on Feb. 21. Party mask not included.

1. Banoffee: Look At Us Now Dad

Australian-born, L.A.-based pop experimentalist Banoffee is today sharing her debut album on Cascine. The record was written in the two years after her move to Los Angeles and features SOPHIE, Empress Of and cupcakKe, among others. —Ellen Johnson

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2. Best Coast: Always Tomorrow

Best Coast recently released “Different Light,” the opening track from duo Bethany Cosentino and Bob Bruno’s fourth studio album, Always Tomorrow. One of our most-anticipated albums of this month, Always Tomorrow follows Best Kids (2018) and California Nights (2015). It was produced by Carlos de la Garza (M83, Paramore) with assistance from Justin Meldal-Johnsen. —Isabella DeLeo

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3. Grimes: Miss Anthropocene

In an interview on Apple Music’s Beats 1, Grimes told Zane Lowe that her recent single “Delete Forever” is a response to the opioid epidemic and the song was written on the night of Lil Peep’s death, saying that the song is overall a “bummer.” Miss Anthropocene, the follow-up to 2015’s Art Angels, is out now. The singles “So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth,” “Violence,” “My Name Is Dark” and “4ÆM” were released leading up to the album. —Natalia Keogan

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4. Katie Pruitt: Expectations

It’s an apt title: Katie Pruitt spends much of her debut album Expectations wrestling with the ones that encircled her growing up and realizing that they only have as much power as she gives them. That’s a big deal for someone who grew up gay in a Christian household in Georgia, feeling shame for being different and hiding it, and fear that revealing her true self would result in rejection from her family and friends—sentiments tempered by the late-blooming knowledge that even at her lowest she had a support system to help raise her back up. Pruitt channels those feelings into the 10 songs on Expectations, an album that leans heavily toward modern folk, with elements here and there of rock and pop: The title track, for example, has an ’80s radio-rock feel with gleaming guitars and a sleek rhythm. The real draw here, though, is her voice, which can sound delicate and feathery. She’s also capable of sudden, robust power, and she can switch from one to the other in a flash. —Eric R. Danton

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5. King Krule: Man Alive!

British musician Archy Ivan Marshall, better known by his stage name King Krule, releases his third full-length album, Man Alive!, today. He recently shared the latest single from the album, “Cellular,” along with a hypnotic animated music video. This is the third single that King Krule has released in anticipation of the album, the other two being “(Don’t Let The Dragon) Draag On” and “Alone, Omen 3.” Each of the singles have been accompanied with equally striking music videos, including one that was self-directed by Marshall for “(Don’t Let The Dragon) Draag On.” —Natalia Keogan

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6. Letitia VanSant: Circadian

Imagine having Letitia VanSant’s depth of empathy. Feeling as much as she does, and as hard as she does, must hurt: Most of us care only as far as our Twitter feed takes us, but here’s VanSant on her sophomore album, Circadian, talking about such subjects as depression, climate change, gun violence, the stranglehold that corporations have on American politics, and—trigger warning—her own sexual assault. The last of these motifs comprises the body of her opening salvo, “You Can’t Put My Fire Out,” both a hell of a way to start the record off and to reclaim her sense of self following her experience with the unthinkable. But thinking of Circadian only in terms of VanSant’s personal suffering: She has a mighty heart, and she follows it along countless other cathartic pursuits, sometimes even focusing on several at once. —Andy Crump

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7. Moses Sumney: græ Part 1

Genre-defying artist Moses Sumney has released part one of a double album, græ, which he announced back in mid-November 2019, revealing that it would be released by Jagjaguwar Records in two parts, with the second to follow on May 15. A press release describes græ as “an assertion that the undefinable still exists and dwelling in it is an act of resistance,” and that act is exactly what Sumney aims to inspire with his Bootleg Theater residency in L.A.. The entire album rollout appears calibrated to blur the boundaries that regulate your average album rollout—it’s Sumney’s expansive, innovative approach to music, spilling over into the way that music is shared with the world. —Scott Russell

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8. Sarah Harmer: Are You Gone

Folk-rock singer/songwriter Sarah Harmer is back with her first new album in a decade, the thoughtful Are You Gone. The Canadian artist will also tour across the U.S. following the album’s release. Harmer’s voice remains as warm and wise as ever. —Ellen Johnson

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9. Sunny Jain: Wild Wild East

Red Baraat frontman Sunny Jain is back with his first solo album in nearly a decade, Wild Wild East, out now on Smithsonian Folkways, and this time he’s paying special attention to the concept of American westward expansion. Jain, whose parents are Indian immigrants, pulls from his heritage as well as a wealth of influences to mold Wild Wild East, a record that spans Bollywood to the Wild West to crowded jazz clubs. —Ellen Johnson

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10. Wilsen: Ruiner

Brooklyn-based trio Wilsen are today sharing the follow-up to their debut album I Go Missing In My Sleep. They’re back with Ruiner, a record that singer Tamsin Wilson described as going through a “coming of age process.” “We’re getting older and becoming more deliberate, less precious, less measured,” she said in a press release. “Overthinking less and trusting instincts more.” —Ellen Johnson

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